Several local and state officials who represent Boston are fiercely criticizing the United States Postal Service after Allston residents learned this month that USPS no longer plans to reestablish a post office location in their neighborhood, which has been without one for nearly seven years.
The reversal comes as USPS continues to face a “severe financial crisis,” with federal officials sounding the alarm that the postal service could run out of money by February next year. A number of Boston’s elected representatives, speaking at a council hearing on the issue Tuesday, said that the USPS move to walk back its plans to reopen an Allston branch is part of a troubling trend of post office closures around the state, and inadequate mail service.
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“The Allston neighborhood was promised a post office, and they deserve a post office,” said Senator Ed Markey in a statement Tuesday. “The United States Postal Service is meant to be the front face of the federal government in every community, but it is turning its back on neighborhoods across the Commonwealth.
Boston City Council President Liz Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton and called for Tuesday’s hearing, also slammed the decision and called on USPS to “honor its commitments.”
“After years of public engagement, planning, and anticipation ... this abrupt reversal is incredibly frustrating for our community,” Breadon said. “Many residents, including Allston’s older adult population, immigrant communities, and small business owners, rely on USPS for the essential services that it provides.”
USPS closed its only Allston location in 2019 due to structural issues with the building at 47 Harvard Ave. Residents and elected officials have advocated for USPS to replace the branch for years.
In a June 2025 letter, a USPS official told Mayor Michelle Wu that the postal service made a “final decision” to reopen the Allston post office at a new location, “as close as reasonably possible” to the old one. A new space would allow USPS to “reestablish retail operations for our customers in Allston, MA for the long term” and “maintain and improve our service for the community.”
But earlier this month, Allston residents received letters from USPS saying the postal service is reversing course and intends to “permanently close” its Allston branch, according to copies of the letters shared by Breadon.
In the letters, USPS officials noted that the decision is not final, and the postal service is collecting public feedback, evaluating customer needs, and studying the feasibility of ending its in-person retail presence in Allston.
Breadon, along with several other Boston city councilors and some state lawmakers, sent a letter to the USPS last week opposing the proposed closure and demanding that USPS reopen an Allston post office.
Breadon on Tuesday emphasized that about 87,000 residents in Allston and Brighton depend on a single post office location in Brighton, while Newton has 10.
USPS officials declined invitations to testify at Tuesday’s council hearing, Councilor Sharon Durkan said. USPS also refused to speak at an emergency council hearing on mail delays in 2024, and flouted a rare subpoena the council issued in an attempt to compel officials to attend.
Judy Ferriera, a spokesperson for USPS in New England, said in a statement to the Globe that USPS has a process it must follow before closing a branch, and that no final decision has been made about the Allston location. Those steps include soliciting and evaluating public feedback, she wrote.
Officials got wind that USPS was questioning whether to reopen its Allston branch in April this year, when Breadon received an email from a USPS official saying the postal service will “temporarily pause looking for an alternative facility while it further reviews the operational needs of the Allston, MA area.”
Later in April, the Boston real estate development firm Eden Properties said USPS abruptly pulled out of a plan to move into one of its properties.
Eden Properties purchased the site of the old Allston post office on Harvard Avenue in 2021, and worked closely with USPS to design the ground floor to accommodate a new post office, said Noah Maslan, a principal at Eden Properties, at the hearing Tuesday.
But after Eden redesigned the space according to USPS specifications and renegotiated a lease agreement, USPS backed out, Maslan said.
“Reestablishing the post office was number one on everybody’s list, so we diligently started to try to make that happen,” Maslan said. “We’ve probably spent more time working on this tenant than any tenant we’ve ever worked with. ... We were just devastated.”
USPS officials emphasized the decision was made out of financial necessity in a letter sent to Senators Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Ayanna Pressley in July.
“Please understand that we must carefully evaluate proposals for multi-million-dollar expenditures — such as Allston — at a time when our financial position is dire,” wrote Scott Slusher, a government relations director for USPS.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a number of longtime Allston residents testified before the council to criticize the proposal of a permanent closure. Some said that they often have to wait in long and frustrating lines at the Brighton branch or have had packages stolen, and emphasized the importance of a post office to their community.
“It is a constitutional issue; the inconvenience of not having a post office is tangible,” said Allston resident Wendy Schwartz. “The federal government is not living up to its obligations, and the fact that it reversed itself, I think is just inappropriate, and that we should keep fighting and get our post office back.”